第62章

"Accident," answered Kent."I found some nitro-glycerine pills in the umbrella stand by the hall table." Colonel McIntyre nodded.

"Evidently Turnbull put down his pill box before getting a glass of water, and in his attack of giddiness accidentally opened your box of aconitine pills, Mrs.Brewster, instead of his own, and swallowed a fatal dose, thinking they were nitroglycerine."Mrs.Brewster bowed her head in agreement.That must have been it,"she said."However, I saw Colonel McIntyre tear off the paper wrapping and open my package of pills just before dinner, and when I heard that Jimmie had died from aconitine I - I -" she stammered and stopped short.

"You suspected I had murdered him?" asked McIntyre softly.

"Yes," she looked appealingly at him."Forgive me, I should never have suspected you, but the pills, box and all, were missing the next morning from the hall table.""Turnbull must have thrown the box into the umbrella stand,"explained Kent."That was where I found it.Did you get the securities, Sylvester?" turning to the prisoner.

"No," sullenly."She did," and a jerk of his thumb indicated Helen McIntyre.

Helen raised her head and addressed them slowly.

"Jimmie and I expected Barbara to come in at any moment, and he started to leave when we saw you coming downstairs," she turned to Mrs.Brewster."Jimmie declared that if we were found together Imight be compromised.He couldn't explain his presence without exposing father - we both thought you a forger, father," she interpolated, as McIntyre took her hand and pressed it understandingly."So he insisted that I should treat him like an ordinary burglar - we had both forgotten Barbara's silly wager in our horror about father.Jimmie didn't dare take the securities and father's confession with him for fear he'd be searched at the police station, and the scandal would have come out then.""True," agreed McIntyre."Go on, Helen.""So Jimmie thrust the securities and father's confession into an envelope and sealed it with red wax, using Barbara's seal,"explained Helen."He hadn't time to write an address or message on it, but he told me to return the envelope to him later in the day or give it to Philip Rochester and ask his aid.I brought it here on Wednesday morning and with Harry's permission put the envelope in the safe.""I tried to get it from there," volunteered Sylvester, "for Ioverheard Turnbull's plan, before I left by the reception room window.""So it was you and not Mr.Rochester whom I saw steal out of the window," exclaimed Mrs.Brewster.

"It's not the first time I've been mistaken for him," exclaimed Sylvester calmly.

Kent started and, gazing at Rochester and the clerk, saw there was a general resemblance in coloring and physique.

"Did you present the checks to McDonald at the Metropolis Trust Company bearing Rochester's and my forged signatures?" he asked.

"I did," acknowledged Sylvester."Mr.Rochester's wardrobe came in very handy for deceiving the casual glance.You know, 'clothes make the man, and want of it the fellow.'"Kent looked up quickly, struck by an idea.

"Sylvester, did you steal the envelope containing the securities from me at the Club de Vingt?" he asked.

Sylvester shook his head."No, but she did," pointing to Mrs.

Brewster."It's no lie," as McIntyre uttered an indignant denial.

"When Ferguson left here carrying off the securities from under my nose almost - I had spent the whole day trying to learn the safe's combination; I trailed him to the Club de Vingt, and heard the head waiter tell him you, Mr.Kent, were sitting in the small smoking porch, so I climbed up the trumpet vine; oh, it was strong and no climb for one who has done the feats I have in the circus.

I reached the porch just in time to see Mrs.Brewster drop her fan, and when the men bent to pick it up she 'lifted' the envelope and concealed it under her scarf.""Don't," Mrs.Brewster laid a detaining hand on McIntyre as he stepped forward."The man is telling the truth.I thought it was the envelope you gave me earlier in the evening - it was unaddressed and the red seal was the same.""Just a moment," interrupted Kent."What did you do with the envelope?""When I returned home I dropped it inside one of the Venetian caskets," Mrs.Brewster replied."No one ever went near them, and Ithought it would be safe there.You see, I was puzzled to know how it had disappeared from the desk in the reception room, where I had left it in one of the pigeon holes, intending to take it later to my room.""I took the envelope - your envelope - out of the desk," confessed McIntyre."I would have spoken of it, Margaret, but was hurt that you had left our marriage certificate lying around so carelessly.""Your what?" Barbara sprang up, astounded.

"Our marriage certificate," repeated McIntyre firmly."Margaret and I were married last week in Baltimore.We would have told you, Helen, but your peculiar conduct and Barbara's, so angered me that I forbade Margaret to take you into our confidence.""Father!" Barbara got no further, for Helen had risen.She spoke with quiet dignity.

"You forget, father, that since Monday night we have thought you a forger and, worse, a murderer," her voice faltered."In our effort to guard you we have become estranged.Margaret"- she held out her hand with an affectionate gesture and with a sob her step-mother kissed her.

"How did this envelope get back inside our safe?" asked Kent a moment later, picking it up and displaying the red seal, intact save for the broken corner.

"I went downstairs about midnight or a little later and into the library," confessed Helen."What was my surprise and terror to see Grimes holding the envelope.To me it meant father's exposure as a forger.I had a revolver in my hand and struck before I thought.